Earning College Credit

Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual Enrollment courses offer students the opportunity to earn college credit before they enroll in a college or university.

AP Courses

What are AP courses and how can you earn college credit?

AP courses are college-level courses offered to high school students. Each course helps students prepare to take a separate AP exam at the end of the school year. Each exam takes place in May on a specific date determined by College Board. Exams often include a writing and multiple choice section. Depending on their performance, students can earn scores of 1 to 5, where 1 is the lowest score and 5 is the highest score. Many colleges and universities will offer transfer credit for students who earn scores from 3 to 5. Students will need to research which colleges and universities provide credit for passing the AP exam and how much credit each school will award.*

How can CPA students take AP courses?

AP courses are offered through CPA’s partner program, Apex Learning Virtual School, and are not currently offered in-house. These courses are similar to online college courses that do not include live lectures. The following AP courses can be taken by CPA students:

  • AP US Government & Politics
  • AP Microeconomics
  • AP Macroeconomics
  • AP Psychology
  • AP Spanish Language
  • AP English Literature & Composition
  • AP English Language & Composition
  • AP US History
  • AP Biology
  • AP Chemistry
  • AP Environmental Science
  • AP Calculus AB
  • AP Statistics

AP course content and grading are not monitored by CPA staff, but CPA staff will provide an extra level of oversight at an additional cost. This oversight includes weekly monitoring and reporting of students’ grades in their AP courses, the sharing of resources available to help students be successful in these courses, and/or additional tutoring sessions available to CPA students.

Please be aware that taking the AP exam requires students to find a local testing location in which to take the exam. Most local schools or testing centers need to be notified by October if a student wants to take the exam with the school or testing center.

Dual Enrollment

What is dual enrollment?

Dual (or concurrent) enrollment is where high school students take college courses, taught by college professors before they graduate from high school. Online colleges and universities, as well as community colleges often allow high school students who maintain high GPAs to begin taking courses at their schools. Many colleges will accept credits earned in these courses as transfer credits.*

How can CPA students earn college credit through dual enrollment?

CPA students can take college courses in addition to the CPA courses, or instead of one or two courses at CPA. CPA students may choose where to complete college coursework, subject to the following:

Elective credits – Any 100+ level course can be transferred in as an elective.

Core credits– Before enrolling, CPA students must send the name of the college, the course name, and the syllabus to the assistant principal for approval to verify that the course will match our graduation requirements.

Once the course has been approved, enrollment, tuition, progress monitoring, etc. is handled between the student, guardians, and college; not Calvary Preparatory Academy.

After successfully completing a college course, guardians should request transcripts to be mailed to CPA (or emailed electronically through an official transcript provider such as Parchment) so the records can be imported into our system. The import rate for college courses is as follows:

  • 1-2 college units = 5 high school credits
  • 3 or more college units = 10 high school credits
  • Semester and Quarter units are treated equally.

Online universities used by past CPA students for college credit include the following:

Calvary Chapel University

Grand Canyon University (discounted partnership)

Colorado Christian University

Columbia International University

Liberty University Online Academy

*It is recommended that before starting an AP or dual enrollment course, students and families verify that the credits earned for the course will transfer to the college(s) they would like to attend after high school graduation.